Hi there comrades. I noticed that Ketza has been maintaining an AAR on our game (of course have not opened the thread). While I would like to do the same, I don't have the time to do a full AAR like a lot of threads. That said, I thought it might be interesting for some to get my impressions from the opening season, and more importantly, for me to get your thoughts on some issues as we approach the blizzard. I will try to post more thoughts tomorrow.

OK, first, a few comments about my perspective of the campaign thus far.

First, this is my first PBEM campaign game, after playing one PBEM game of "Road to Leningrad". Have finished one GC vs the AI (on Normal, kind of a joke) which I started at the same time as the game against Ketza and have started a second (on Challenging, with 1.03, much more, uh, challenging...).

Ketza has played a great game, and has been very aggresive IMO. Initially I thought that his aggressive tactics were very risky, and that he would end up losing some of his spearhead units, but that did not prove to be the case... Why not? His most effective tactic in my view is how he creates "air pockets", ie pockets with virtually no units in the surrounding cordon, but simply a gap of 3-5 German controlled hexes that my Sov units cannot penetrate even without German defenders. This is rather frustrating to say the least, but it is what it is...

Of course Ketza's success has been augmented by some major blunders on my part. My biggest blunder has been to allow him to repeatedly surprise me--really surprise me--with the mobility of his units after the initial couple of turns. I'm guessing he is using HQ Buildup or whatever it is called, otherwise I don't see how his units can be advancing so far in single turns througout the summer and into the fall. I will have to look at his AAR after our game is over to see what he's been up to.

My second major blunder was my whole defensive architecture, although I've tried to fix that by adopting carpet and checkerboard tactics. While I abhor these tactics as gamey and unrealistic, it is the only way for the Sovs to survive 1941 IMO.

My third major blunder was being rather lazy/complacent about evacuating factories. Combined with my first blunder, this has cost me, we'll see how much as the game progresses.

As a result of these blunders, and his successful pocketing of massive quantities of units in the south in the initial turns, I have been on the run ever since, just hoping to survive. My major disappointments, losing Lgrad and Stalino, were both very well played by Ketza, who has exquisite timing--in both cases I was going to signficantly reinforce these areas the next turn, only to have Ketza swoop in. I can honestly say I was shocked at both his cutting off of Lgrad and his coup de main on Stalino.

Things have more or less settled down now, and I was actually surprised by the limpness of his attacks on Turn 22, I expected him to attempt a major push on Moscow before the blizzard and was not looking foward to seeing what he had been able to do on that turn! Maybe his units are now finally exhausted, or maybe the hammer will fall on Turn 23, we'll see, although I think at this point any major push gets fairly risky/pointless for him, but perhaps he will surprise me again.

I'll give some thoughts on blizzard intentions in the next post, although am a bit concerned about tipping my hand (not that I think Ketza would look, but some well-intentioned reader could cue him, even unintentionally...). In any events, I will have some questions, etc. about how to do things in the blizzard.

I'll continue with some thoughts on general blizzard strategy, under the very possibly optimistic assumption that Ketza does not create any significant threats in the next turn.

First, I've got to make basic assumptions about Ketza's blizzard plan...currently his army must be in fine shape with few losses and excellent morale. Given the condition of his army, the ease with which he swept forward this season, and the damage he could face if he plans to simply hold the line, if I were him I'd give serious thought to a force preservation strategy in which he didn't care too much about how much territory he lost. Under such a strategy, he would withdraw his main forces (maybe even take the panzers back to Germany) and leave a relatively weak screen to slowly retreat. This strategy would have the dual advantages of preserving his forces and drawing me forward into a position of his choosing, with less time for me to dig in as a result.

Also, I expect him to become much more aggressive with the Finns during the blizzard, to distract me and to create a potential launching pad for a German offensive in the spring. The Finns have been very passive thus far, so I've assumed he is saving them for the blizzard. Obviously there is not much of value in their sector, but I think a Finnish advance during the blizzard could facilitate a German strike toward Moscow in the spring, so I cannot ignore the Finns altogether.

I've listed my main expectation above, but his actions on Turn 22 do not necessarily conform to these assumptions; my guess is that he hoped to mount some kind of push on Moscow prior to the blizzard, but after his limited success last turn, he will start to withdraw. If he keeps attacking/advancing on Turn 23, rather than starting an orderly withdrawal, I may have to rethink.

Meanwhile, my own forces are very weak, although I expect more than 100 units as reinforcements before the end of the year, which should be quite a boost. While I certainly intend to launch some offensive operations, I have not yet decided where to focus them, how extensive they should be, or if I will brief the readers of this thread on my plans in advance. (I am former military and currently work in Moscow, so I'm afraid OPSEC is very deeply ingrained...).

Received Turn 23; I will try to post some screen shots at some point, but in the meantime...

I should have known that Ketza would come on hard...he made a pretty serious attack towards Moscow from the SW, pocketing about a dozen units from my defending carpet. Nevertheless, there are two fortified lines between him and Moscow and I don't expect him to make much further progress in that direction, although he might breach the outer defenses in a few places (actually, he might just smash the line to bits, but I hope not...). I think it is more likely that he will divert to the east and take Tula, so I took the precaution of evacuating its factories (thought it was safe until this turn); I expect that he could take Tula if we really wants it, so we'll see.

In the south he made a strong drive down to the Sea of Azov (the coast to the east of the northern entrance to the Crimea), pocketing again about a dozen units, but most of them are depleted, so no big loss I guess. Breaking either encirclement (this one or the one near Moscow) is not feasible until the blizzard, so these units are presumably goners...farewell comrades!

Finally, in the north, he seems to be repositioning the Finns to stage an East-West attack just north of the No Move line. I've been expecting this for weeks, so have some fortifications in this area, but will probbaly need to reinforce this area as the attack begins. If the Finns drive me back too far it may cause me some problems in the spring, as I will try to show in subsequent posts.

He only has one more turn before the blizzard, so we'll see what happens. I will try to post screenshots next time I post, so that things are easier to follow.

End of Turn 24, I've survived till the blizzard, although not in the greatest shape. Here are a series of screen shots showing the situation on the front line, toward the end of Turn 24:

Finnish Sector:

The Finns look tough, but I think they'll take some time to punch through these defenses. Obviously not worried about losing a couple of hexes up in this wildnerness, although I don't want to them push me too far back. The main point will be to cause them lots of casualties, I'm guess their their manpower reserves are fairly limited. Anyway, things look more or less under control up here so far.

Around Lake Seliger:

Again, things more or less under control, haven't decided what to do here during the blizzard yet.

Moscow Sector: Didn't have much problem holding Moscow at the end of the day, had fortified it pretty well. Will look to create some breathing space here during the blizzard.

Orel-Kursk-Kharkov: He reached here long ago and pretty much stopped and thinned out his line, I guess either to dig in further back or divert troops to the south. Looking to take most of these cities back.

South: This should be where most of the action will be during the blizzard. It seems like he's left his panzers a bit exposed out in the steppe, although he should have time to pull things back if I can mount any kind of threat. Not shown, but I obviously also still hold the Crimea.

Before deciding what to do during the blizzard, I wanted to take a quick look at what I thought he'll try to do in 1942. Moscow is definitely under threat, both from the north and the immediate vicinity:

This is the threat from the North, via the short Sonkovo Corridor or the longer Vologda Corridor: The key to using either of these approaches is to use the Finns to push me back to the entrance to the Sonkovo corridor by next season, so I've got to stop that. Stopping him along the Sonkovo Corridor will be very difficult, since it is short, with no defensible terrain other than the Volga, and has a direct rail line.

Further south, my plans are pretty simple: push back a little from Moscow, and retake Orel, Kursk, Belgorod, Kharkov. In the far south, I would like to retake Stalino-Gorlovka and Zaporozhnye.

That's pretty much it. My main question is whether I have the production and manpower to mount a sustained offensive. Here is my Production screen--I really have no idea what it means, or to what extent I screwed myself with all of the encirclements and cities and factories lost--could someone please take a look?

First turn of the blizzard is over. In the north, he made a few attacks with the Finns, will continue to reinforce a bit and dig dig dig. Between the Finns and Moscow, pretty quiet, I made a couple of attacks. Around Moscow he is slowly pulling back, I am following, trying to slip tank and cav units in the gaps, with a few attacks. Same along Orel-Kursk-Kharkov line. In the south I made a few more attacks, trying to force his units on the flanks of Stalino back.

Meanwhile I've been reinforcing north of the Crimea, to attack toward Stalino from that direction as well.

I tried to launch an amphibious assualt on Mariupol, one of the ports he holds along the coast east of the Crimea. But for some reason I could only land troops in friendly-controlled hexes--could someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong? I want to put some cav in there...

Also, as mentioned in my previous post, I would like some feedback on my production status...I seem to have a million men in my manpower pool--are those men who will be fed into my combat units soon, or what?

Turn 27: Things are going more or less according to plan, although a bit slower than I want in the South, where he is holding fast for now. A summary, with screen shots:

Finnish Sector: He only launched one attack with the Finns; I don't understand why he is being so passive up with the Finns, but I guess I'll take it. I continue to dig in and incrementally reinforce. Am considering converting all of the rifle divisions to Static, but am not sure it is worth it--I would only get one or two AP for each division, although they would dig in faster. Any recommendations?

Lake Ilmen: Things are generally quiet between the Finnish sector and Moscow, but I don't want him to think that nothing is going on, so I launch a few attacks per turn. I'm thinking about taking the V extending eastward from Lake Ilmen; while it would provide him with a salient in the spring, its got easily defendable shoulders. Think I'll give it a shot...

Moscow: I been pushing him back SW of Moscow (actually, I've mainly just been following his slow withdrawal, with a couple of attacks per turn. I don't have any real ambitions in this area, but will take what I can get, and want to hurt some of his units. Here's progress so far (red line showing position from end of Turn 24):

Orel-Kursk-Kharkov (OKK): This has been the funnest part of the front. He is pulling back very slowly, trying to keep a solid front. I've been attacking weak units and trying to insert tank and cav units in the gaps. Retook Kursk this turn (after he abandoned it), Orel should be next. He seems to be trying pretty hard to keep Kharkov, deploying blizzard-proof mountain troops to its south. Things are still developing here, but I need to pick up the pace:

South: From Kharkov to the Sea of Azov, things are sort of creeping along, although he abandoned Gorlovka (the NE-most of the Stalino trio) this turn. I think I'll be able to pick up the pace in this area, as I am still deploying some of my best troops. I've been launching a few attacks every turn, with his SS units south of Stalino holding tough so far. In general, I'm trying to maneuver more, fight less, but it is taking time to get things moving. This area could get really interesting! I think the objectives should be obvious...

Ooops, I forgot to ask a question: I want to boost the hitting power of many of my rifle divisions, and merged quite a few of them this turn, although it didn't seem to do much good (ie, after the merger, the CV of the merged unit was often less than that of the pre-merger units). Need to check the manual on this to see if there are morale hits, etc, but would appreciate any advice on this practice.

Actually I want to force him out of Stalino by breaking through north of there and driving to the NE toward Stalino with the troops in the lower center of the map. Hopefully that will create a disrupted front which will allow me to use some cav to lever him out of Zaporozhe as well. But I need to pick up the pace, and need my cav troops, which are on the way...

I would not combine infantry units at this point. If they are low combat power, put them on refit with a good commander and they will puff up pretty quick.

I don't see any cav corps. I would absolutely recommend some of these as they are good for pushing exploitation and unlike cav divs and tank brigades, are far harder for the Axis to counter attack. You do have to be somewhat careful with them since the fatigue seems to go up quite a bit, but still. The other advantage of forming them is you can directly attach 3 support units of your choice to puff them up even that much more.

The other thing as a Russian, I would be looking at attacking for high percentage attacks where you can. Generation of guards units is very important obviously, but where the Russians can start to become really dangerous is putting those guards units into the Shock armies with the extra moral bonus. Speaking of Shock armies, where are yours in action at by chance?

He is in trouble in the south with the heavy push from the Crimea and also from the Stalino area. I think he made a pretty bad mistake leaving the Crimea area the way he did at the end of the Axis offensive and I am sure he will likely not repeat it in the future, but that doesn't help him this game. He is going to have to give a lot of ground there or risk a big encirclement.

As far as putting rifle divisions on static, I don't think it is worth it to be honest. Keeping your mobility during the winter is important imo, even against the Finns.

Finnish Sector: So quiet up here you could hear crickets, at least if crickets could survive -30 degree temperatures. I guess he's not attacking because he's intimidated by by fortified defenses:

You'll note that a few hexes back from the front line I constructed a line of FRs in every other hex, and gave them each 3 SU of artillery, which supposedly is more effective when used by FRs. I kind of wanted to see what would happen, oh well..

I'm not sure why he didn't attack early and often once the Finns were activated, he just kind of sat there. Will be interested to find out why after the game.

ILMEN: A couple of attacks here, nothing exciting. Repositioning some troops to continue the drive, but I'm pretty thin in this sector.

MOSCOW: Same story, pushing SW from Moscow pretty slowly.

KKO: Ah, yes, my favorite sector. There were some exciting developments here, but unfortunately I forgot to take a screenshot. Anyway, he abandoned Orel, and I'm trying to encircle a couple of divions there. I've also encircled about 8 of his divisions near Kursk; the cordon is hardly rock solid, so he might well escape, but I can't say that I even planned this kind of encirclement, just wanted to force him to pull back. But if he doesn't want to do that I'll be happy to bag some of his troops. The gap in his lines in this area is about 8 hexes wide, and to insert into the breach I just whistled up an entire army from reinforcments arriving this turn--not like the bad old days! But I don't receive many more reinforcements from here on, have to roll my own units I guess.

SOUTH: I opened the turn to see this: :

He go the telegraph about the danger of encirclement in the south and started an orderly withdrawal. All of my troops down here are slow as molasses, so it is hard to catch him. Here is the situation at the end of the turn:

Note that originally I wanted to hit the Romanians posted along the Lower Dnepr during the blizzard, but he has stacked most of them with Germans, and there is not much to gain beyond the Dnepr, so I decided to cancel this plan. Still hope to grab Zaporozhye.

Klydon, I didn't realize I could form cav corps so early, didn't think could do so until 1941; anyway, I've formed a couple, but while I have lots of cav units, they are scattered among the various armies. Definite oversight on my part, oh well.

Ah, and currently I'm only using two Shock Armies, the 1st and 2nd, commanded by Rokossovsky and Gorelenko, respectively. 1SA is north of Stalino looking to head west, and 2SA is coming north out of the Crimea. Neither has really seen any action yet, as I want to save them for when the Nazis have been weakened a bit more.

Turn 29: I'm too tired to finish the turn tonight, so a rare mid-turn post, as I'd like some thoughts...

Here's the picture:

I've basically ripped up his front from Orel to Kharkov, and formed a couple of (rather weak) pockets. The problem is that I'm running out of troops, so I've got to decide now whether to "pull my goalie" and pull some good armies from other parts of the front to throw into the breach, or to dial things back and accept more limited aims. From my perspective, the whole point of this operation was to lever him out of OKK, and hopefully these maneuvers will get him out of Kharkov soon enough.

The problem with doubling down is that it simply creates a huge salient to be attacked in the spring (if not before), so logically I should be content with what I've got. The only reason I've had any kind of success is that during the blizzard his pathetically weak troops are even weaker than my pathetically weak troops.

Gonna sleep on it, and decide tomorrow, let me know if you have suggestions. On other fronts, more of the same, he is slowly retreating SW from Moscow, and north from the Sea of Azov area.

Just a note that it helps if you have fortification levels on when you screen shot.

To be honest, you have him in some serious trouble in the Orel/Kursk area. I would be looking to shove the kitchen sink in there. It is rare the Russians can cut off and destroy German units in 1941/42, but you have a really good shot with the larger pocket. At the very least you force the Germans to do something they hate to do and that is attack during the blizzard in the open to try to save those guys. He already has his mountain units committed to the defense south of Kharkov, so he can't use those either.

While he may have some Germans stacked with those Rumanians, the Rumanians are basically worthless in blizzard and it doesn't take much to send them packing. The Germans won't hold much either being broken down into regiments. I am not suggesting "attack there now", but I would absolutely plan on it as a second stage offense after that river gets frozen nice and hard. He won't get jack out of that river line and once you get rolling that way, he is going to be in trouble.

He is in serious trouble from just south of Moscow and down. Keep your foot on his throat there and don't give him a break. You stand to cause a lot of casualties and regain a tremendous amount of territory.

That is very, very bad for the Germans. I predict this game could end pretty soon, because that is big-time bad.

Pocket #2, that's 8 divisions, and they are toast. I don't see how he could extract them. You think that pocket is weak? I can't tell what's under your Army HQ unit, but even if that's not a combat unit, you should be able to easily re-establish. Those divisions are lost.

Pocket #1 can be broken, but there is a good chance you can re-establish that, and the longer he hangs around trying to extract those 4 divisions, the longer he risks even more. That's a bad situation. I wish I could see north of that pocket.

Around Kharkov, one division there is toast, the one furthest north. It can likely only move one-hex next turn, which isn't good enough given the spearheads in the rear. The most prudent thing there is to abandon that unit, and pull everyone else out, given the mass of units I think I can see to the south. Tough call to leave a man (or a division) behind.

That's at least 9 divisions conservatively, 13 with a small amount of luck, and another 6 or so if he makes a mistake, like trying to hold his ground.

This is a German disaster. Yet another game falling apart in the winter. The right thing to do from a game standpoint is go all-in in this region, and step on his throat. Hopefully that won't end the game, but I wonder if it will.

In theory pocket 2 should be dead meat. But there's a mere infantry brigade covering the west of the pocket. It could be reopened on next turn. BUT if he does that (the rescue thing) I very much suspect you would be bagging the rescuers too... so that would make 9 units + x rescuers

Thanks for the feedback comrades. It will take me a few turns to get more troops down there in significant numbers, but maybe that's what I should do. I should have had more troops in reserve in the first place, but I didn't expect this kind of success here, so most of my reserves where positioned closer to Stalino or by Moscow.

Klydon, usually I turn on fortifications for screenshots, but in this region, there aren't any, since he's already been pulling back for the last few turns.

In this area he has been pulling back 1-2 hexes per turn, so it has been harder for me to launch many attacks, but I think things are about to get ugly here as well, because I've got quite a few good troops, and just need to try harder to get the tanks and cav in the gaps...

76mm, the case is you CAN smell the blood. So yes, you have to divert forces to this place (I would send a respectable horde). Destroying German units IS a must on 1941 (and of course a lot of fun ). Unless Moscow and Stalino are about to fall, divert forces, make sure your white sharks won't be disappointed

Comrades, heeding your advice to throw all available troops into the breach, the Stavka has decided to commit the following troops immediately, with additional troops arriving in coming days, These armies are a rag-tag collection of raw recruits and troops more familiar with the shovel than the rifle, but they would have to do, as there were precious few choices in these desperate times.

In addition, as the Stavka meeting concluded, Comrade Zhukov approached me with an unusual request--to be relieved of his command of the prestigious Southwest Front. He assured me that if I gave him command of our last army, our best army, he would mount a bold operation that could end the war. As he traced his plans on the wall-mounted maps in Stavka HQ, I nodded my approval. The next two weeks would be decisive...

it won't end the war, but will probably end the GAME. Throw everything in there, because I doubt he'll recover.

Heh, that's what I meant. I call it a negotiated peace.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball For good measure, hit the Romanians on the Dnepr; that's a weak spot. The River is a non-factor now, and the Romanians really suffer. I'm surprised you haven't attacked them.

I'm VERY thin along the river, and it takes me a LONG time to move troops over there, especially the western end of the Lower Dnepr. I'm "racing" over there now, but things are really very slow. Being able to ship troops to the port west of the Crimea would be a huge help, but this does not seem possible from Kerch, for instance. Kind of frustrating.